Effective Technical Communication

Technical projects frequently involve a number of scientists or engineers working on different aspects of the project.  As many aspects of the work may be interrelated or dependent on each other, effective communication between the various individuals or groups is essential.

It is important to consider the type of communication that is used for day-to-day interactions to share elements the project work. Email or phone conversations may be a rapid way of communicating information but communicating in such a way can often lead to a lack of (easily found) documentation.  In addition, if details are passed on via a conversation, there is often no information written down and this can lead to misunderstandings or misinterpretations of project outcomes or what the next steps may be.

A simple solution to this is the option of a shared project folder or document storage space that all technical members have access to.  This allows for documents to be shared in the one space, where all team members can access the most up-to-date project work.  In addition to technical information (instrumental data, lab results, outcomes of particular test protocols), minutes or notes from team meetings can be documented in the same location. 

Additionally, using a standard template may be useful to ensure that information is being shared in a consistent form.  This enables information shared by one person or group to be compared easily to that from a different person or group, because the documents follow the same outline.

Another option is a regularly updated snapshot of the progress of the project at a particular time.  This can be physical (a whiteboard where information is updated by hand) or a shared electronic document.  If a physical method is used, a photograph of each update can be stored in the shared document space.  If this snapshot document is updated at each team meeting, it allows everyone to easily see both where the project is up to and who is working on which aspects of the work.  Saving images or different versions of the electronic document is also helpful to record how the project is progressing.

In the event of a large or long-term project that may be carried out by several different groups over an extended period of time, writing up project work (experimental procedures, data analysis, initial findings, proposed further work) as it is done is also helpful.  These can take the form of short memos, presentations or emails, and if they are saved to a shared document space, they can be used when writing up the final report.  Having this information in at least a draft written form is especially helpful if team members are assigned to different projects (or take another role) and no longer work on the project when the final report is being written.